Arthropod Predator Community & Soil Carbon Sequestration

The composition of the arthropod predator community and associated cascading effects on the plant community explained 41% of variation in soil C retention among 15 old-fields across a human land use gradient. We also evaluated the potential for several other candidate factors to explain variation in soil C retention among fields, independent of among-field variation in the predator community. These included live plant biomass, insect herbivore community composition, soil arthropod decomposer community composition, degree of land use development around the fields, field age, and soil texture. None of these candidate variables significantly explained soil C retention among the fields. The study offers a generalizable understanding of the pathways through which arthropod predator community composition can contribute to old-field ecosystem carbon storage.